Hmmm Chas after doing some reasearch on mapquest you may be right my memory must have faded lol. By the way that spooky hotel was/is the Roosevelt where the first Academy Awards were held and they say on Wiki that it is haunted. I thought I saw some ghosts around there haha.
ChasSmith; no I don’t think so, it’s been along time but the Avon was not a corner theatre, for one thing, however, it did run 16mm Bell and Howel projection. As I recall, if standing in front the theatre on the street and facing the theatre; to your right would be Grauman’s Chinese theatre with a big white spooky looking Hotel either between the Avon and the Chinese theatre or directly to the left of the Avon. Across from the Chinese theatre was a 1st run Loew’s house (on Hollywood blvd,of course).
During this era/time you could open a theatre with less restrictions if it had 50 or less seats or perhaps it was less than 50 seats (49 seats). This ordinance was perfect for this type of theatre (Gay) and made good Business Sense. Low investment to test a new and unknown market vs. high investment for a larger and nicer house with Higher Risk that you would or could be raided at any moment. Remeber Vince Miranda’s Pussycat porn houses running deep throat were getting raided like crazy all over during that era so there was Very High Risk in opening a Gay theatre so a 50 seat house fit the bill.
Looking back I can now say it took Shan Sayles lots of balls to start the Continental Theatre chain, which is another story of it’s own lol.
This was a Great little theatre next door to Grauman’s Chinese Theater, home to the hand & footprints of the Hollywood Stars,
located at the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive, just west of Highland Avenue.
The Hollywood, Avon theatre along with the San Francisco, Nob Hill (Adult theatre still in existence and doing very well) and the LA, Park where among the first Gay theatres in American and had a direct impact on gay social evolution and acceptance of gays in the United States. Many of Hollywood’s whos who attended screenings at the Avon under cover of Private Membership.
Why did the Century and so many other straight porn and especially gay porn theatres close in or about 1977 was it legal issues?
I worked as a manager and relief manager in So. Cal. then later district mangage in No. Cal. for Shan Sayles, Continental theatres in the late 60s to about 73. Does anyone know what happened to Shan Sayles and Continental theatres as I notice Mr. Beehler also worked for the same company.
From what I can tell the demand for straight porn declined and the demand for gay porn increased till about 1977 then everything came to a stop or near stop and I’m wondering why in that period from 77 to the present gay exibition fell to the extent that great houses such as the Century closed. VHS/DVD did not curb the desire for the Good Ole Days or did it? I notice that the demand did not decrease in Europe, in fact, it appears to have increased during the same time period.
Hmmm Chas after doing some reasearch on mapquest you may be right my memory must have faded lol. By the way that spooky hotel was/is the Roosevelt where the first Academy Awards were held and they say on Wiki that it is haunted. I thought I saw some ghosts around there haha.
WOW!
ChasSmith; no I don’t think so, it’s been along time but the Avon was not a corner theatre, for one thing, however, it did run 16mm Bell and Howel projection. As I recall, if standing in front the theatre on the street and facing the theatre; to your right would be Grauman’s Chinese theatre with a big white spooky looking Hotel either between the Avon and the Chinese theatre or directly to the left of the Avon. Across from the Chinese theatre was a 1st run Loew’s house (on Hollywood blvd,of course).
During this era/time you could open a theatre with less restrictions if it had 50 or less seats or perhaps it was less than 50 seats (49 seats). This ordinance was perfect for this type of theatre (Gay) and made good Business Sense. Low investment to test a new and unknown market vs. high investment for a larger and nicer house with Higher Risk that you would or could be raided at any moment. Remeber Vince Miranda’s Pussycat porn houses running deep throat were getting raided like crazy all over during that era so there was Very High Risk in opening a Gay theatre so a 50 seat house fit the bill. Looking back I can now say it took Shan Sayles lots of balls to start the Continental Theatre chain, which is another story of it’s own lol.
Interesting; Thanks Twistr. Supply and demand. Nickelodeons brought the public out of their homes and home movies brought them back into the homes.
This was a Great little theatre next door to Grauman’s Chinese Theater, home to the hand & footprints of the Hollywood Stars,
located at the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive, just west of Highland Avenue.
The Hollywood, Avon theatre along with the San Francisco, Nob Hill (Adult theatre still in existence and doing very well) and the LA, Park where among the first Gay theatres in American and had a direct impact on gay social evolution and acceptance of gays in the United States. Many of Hollywood’s whos who attended screenings at the Avon under cover of Private Membership.
Why did the Century and so many other straight porn and especially gay porn theatres close in or about 1977 was it legal issues?
I worked as a manager and relief manager in So. Cal. then later district mangage in No. Cal. for Shan Sayles, Continental theatres in the late 60s to about 73. Does anyone know what happened to Shan Sayles and Continental theatres as I notice Mr. Beehler also worked for the same company.
From what I can tell the demand for straight porn declined and the demand for gay porn increased till about 1977 then everything came to a stop or near stop and I’m wondering why in that period from 77 to the present gay exibition fell to the extent that great houses such as the Century closed. VHS/DVD did not curb the desire for the Good Ole Days or did it? I notice that the demand did not decrease in Europe, in fact, it appears to have increased during the same time period.